Field of the Invention
The present application includes inventions that provide devices and/or methods to assist in the distal femur resection and/or the proximal tibial resection during knee arthroplasty.
Description of the Related Art
The knee joint often requires replacement in the form of prosthetic components due to strain, stress, wear, deformation, misalignment, and/or other conditions in the joint. Prosthetic knee joint components are designed to replace a distal portion or portions of a femur and/or a proximal portion or portions of a tibia. Prior to replacing the knee joint with prosthetic components, surgical cuts commonly called resections are generally made with a cutting tool or tools along a portion or portions of both the proximal tibia and distal femur. These cuts are made to prepare the tibia and femur for the prosthetic components. After these cuts are made, the prosthetic components can be attached and/or secured to the tibia and femur.
Resecting a portion or portions of the distal femur can provide a location for placement and/or attachment of a femoral knee joint prosthetic (“distal femoral resection”). The orientation of a cutting block, and/or cutting plane or planes, can be pre-operatively determined in order to provide a desired fit and/or orientation for the femoral knee joint prosthetic. Properly orientating the cutting plane or planes along the distal femur can facilitate alignment of the femoral knee joint prosthetic with the tibial knee joint prosthetic. This alignment can create a set of knee joint prosthetics which function smoothly, continuously, and/or without substantial wear during their life of use.
Similarly, resecting a portion or portions of the proximal tibia can provide a location for placement and/or attachment of a femoral knee joint prosthetic (“proximal tibial resection”). The orientation of a cutting block, and/or cutting plane or planes, can be pre-operatively determined in order to provide a desired fit and/or orientation for the tibial knee joint prosthetic. Properly orientating the cutting plane or planes along the proximal tibia can facilitate alignment of the tibial knee joint prosthetic with the femoral knee joint prosthetic. This alignment can create a set of knee joint prosthetics which function smoothly, continuously, and/or without substantial wear during their life of use.
Joint replacement procedures described above often use a system or systems of surgical tools and devices, including but not limited to cutting guides (e.g. cutting blocks) and surgical guides, to make surgical cuts along a portion or portions of the patient's bone. Current systems and methods often use expensive, complex, bulky, and/or massive computer navigation systems which require a computer or computers, as well as three dimensional imaging, to track a spatial location and/or movement of a surgical instrument or landmark in the human body. These systems are used generally to assist a user to determine where in space a tool or landmark is located, and often require extensive training, cost, and room.
Where such complex and costly system are not used, simple methods are used, such “eyeballing” the alignment of rods with anatomical features, such as leg bones. These simple methods are not sufficiently accurate to reliably align and place implant components and the bones to which such components are attached.
Accordingly, there is a lack of devices, systems and methods that can be used to accurately position components of prosthetic joints without overly complicating the procedures, crowding the medical personnel, and/or burdening the physician of health-care facility with the great cost of complex navigation systems.
During conventional knee arthroplasty, the surgeon often visually aligns the various components required for the femoral and tibial implants.